Unite union calls meeting
in response to roads cuts

Staff Reporter

Published:11:59Friday 03 April 2015

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The Unite union says it is calling an emergency meeting of workers in response to severe cuts across Roads Service - now Transport NI.

Unite’s Regional Officer with responsibility for employees at the Roads Service, Gareth Scott said: “In the past week, Unite warned about the likely impact of the severe cuts to Roads Service budget but the reports we have received from our reps on the ground on Thursday, April 2 provides an insight into the difficulties being posed for managers trying to deal with the situation.

“Planning which potholes will be dealt with is now happening on a day-to-day basis with only R1 potholes [the very worst category on major roads] being patched and only in the absence of six to eight square metres of such potholes will R2 potholes be considered.

“Despite this fact, the client side are still marking R3 potholes but this is work that will never be done.”

Mr Scott concluded: “We are calling on the Minister and wider Northern Ireland Executive to take immediate action to resolve this situation before it gets worse.”